3 Tips on Opening a Restaurant Business

People love food. Business owners open up restaurants regularly. Almost every entrepreneur-minded person have probably thought of putting up a place to eat. This is not only because of profitability — seeing customers happy with the food you serve is satisfying.

The financial rewards of opening up a restaurant can’t be discounted either. However, it is a business for the hard working!

Here are tips for those thinking of opening a restaurant.

Word of mouth is your best friend

If you’re a new restaurant in an area filled with chain outlets and cafes owned by big-time restaurateurs, you can’t compete with their advertising budget. Your best bet is building a loyal client base. Make a habit of reminding satisfied customers to tell their friends about your place and maybe bring them along next time. For the very first few months, you can consider having soft-opening tasting parties where you invite your target market to sample your food–think local offices, school PTAs, and even the community church. That will surely help get the word out.

Don’t go crazy with the menu

Think long and hard: What does my target market want? Don’t go and list down all the food you like and call that your menu. Putting up a successful restaurant is about serving the people what they want.

Hire smart

The restaurant business is a high turnover industry — meaning, lots of employees come and go. If you keep on hiring and firing, you’re hurting your business. Each time you need to replace an employee, you need to train a new one. Training means a period of lower productivity. Keeping loyal and hardworking employees is key to a very successful restaurant.

Of course, there’s no way to predict this, but do everything you can to check backgrounds, interview for behaviour, and get a solid commitment from everyone you hire.

Entering the restaurant business can be very rewarding. But, remember, like all business endeavours, your success is ultimately reliant on the work you put in — so hustle hard!